A beautiful American Goldfinch bird (yellow) has been visiting in and around our garden this year. He seems to enjoy the flowers & berries in the garden. I have been unable to get a picture of him because every time I would notice him I wouldn’t have my camera with me. Darn! That little phone camera is absolutely useless in getting a good enough shot of a faraway flying munchkin, only producing a blurry speck in the sky to see. More detail is needed to be able to identify what a new bird species is for me, but I had my trusty real camera, Nikon, with a decent lens when he showed up yesterday. I got this and used this picture to find him in our reference book and we do have beautiful birds here.
No Longer a Mystery Bird
Peter and I have, “A Field Guide to the BIRDS of North America” by Michael Vanner. This great reference, lets us discover what we are looking at. Following is the info on page 252 quoted. Get this book if you like to look at birds.
American Goldfinch
(Cardulelis Tristis)
Common across most of North America with the exception of the far north, the American Goldfinch is a familiar visitor to bird feeders with its striking plumage. It is gregarious and will often mix with other birds in large feeding flocks. It breeds relatively late in the year, building a small tightly woven cup nest of grass and plant fibers high in a bush or tree. This holds 3-6 plain blue-white eggs which are incubated by the female for 2 weeks. The young can fend for themselves 12-17 days later and juvenile birds are brownish with dark wings and tail. It eats mainly seeds, but will also eat berries and insects. It shows a particular fondness for thistles, which it eats and uses to line its nest.
Thistle absolutely loves our place, and we are constantly at war with those voracious thorns. I am never sure if we are just losing a battle or if we have already lost the war. Weeds, weeds, weeds. Thistle is a never-tiring foe. I fully understand why he loves it here so much.